The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Well, all of a sudden, it is that time of year again.

I am perpetually amazed by how fast time flies. This carousel spins faster and faster every year. I have been thrown into the holiday spirit early this year with working on holiday performances and getting my book The Christmas Child out into the world again.

This week is Thanksgiving and I am feeling very grateful for all the wonderful blessings in my life. This is the first year I’ve had the entire week off for the holiday and that, in itself, is a huge blessing.

I am walking a fine line of excitement and stress these days, holding both opposing forces in my hands, learning how to embrace both – good and bad. This week will allow me time to rest, prepare and reflect. I am humbled by the beauty of friendship, love and support that has surrounded me lately.

The Bookies, a wonderful independent bookstore in Denver, has embraced my book with such gusto – I am still so overwhelmed. The Tattered Cover stores will be carrying it again this year as well. It never ceases to amaze me, that I can visit some of my absolute favorite bookstores and see my book staring back at me.

I will also be working as a volunteer bookseller at The Bookies on 11/30/2013 as a part of Indie First on Small Business Saturday. Sherman Alexie called authors back in September to step into bookseller’s shoes and help out Independent bookstores. You can read his awesome call here. I worked hard as a bookseller for many years in a big chain and indie stores and I am excited to do it again. I loved passing on great books to eager customers and I am crazy grateful that booksellers are now doing that with my book. It is a dream come true!

I will be recouperating from another surgery in December and although I am disappointed to go under the knife again, I am grateful that it will be taken care of soon. As Kid President says, “Life is tough, but so are you.”

I am tough and I know I will be okay. I am grateful for the time to rest, write and heal. I am grateful for family and friends who love me and are willing to do whatever to help me. I am thankful for bookstores, booksellers, books and stories. I am grateful.

Auld Lang Syne

Happy New Year’s Eve!

2011 is on its way out and 2012 is knocking at the door, ready to come in and play.

I have been awfully neglectful to this blog these last couple of months. I have been busy with work and not writing. That is going to change in 2012.

I’ve learned this last December that my writing is important in ways I didn’t realize. That realization was a wonderful gift.

I got behind on getting The Christmas Child  printed this year. It was more work than I expected getting the book ready for reprint and even though I made contacts with some stores, I couldn’t afford to get the new copies printed fast enough for the book to be featured before Christmas. 2012 will be more about advancing the book. I will be working on marketing from January to July so that I will be prepared in August to really steam ahead.

I was disappointed with the lack of forward motion this year, but it was a reflection of the time I put into it last year. I teach a group of fifth graders literacy everyday. One of them found my book on the classroom bookshelf and asked if she could show it to the rest of the group. They were excited and wanted to read it. It is above their reading level, but we all agreed to work hard on vocabulary and I brought them copies the week before we went on Winter Break.  The excitement and rate at which they devoured the book amazed me. They were begging to read more and everyday they would come back having read 15-20 pages at home.

They are asking when they can read the next book and I don’t have anything to offer them yet. Their enthusiasm is good motivation to get back to work!

I still devour books like that. When a great story grabs at you and takes you out of your everyday life, it is a gift. I’m excited that my book is offering that to these six students.

I also received a text from a friend right before Christmas that her brother-in-law was reading my book to his kids for the third time this year. I couldn’t help but be honored by this. This book is special to me in ways that I can’t even express, but to realize that it is special to other people, to strangers is a revelation that I never really expected. You hope that it will matter to someone, but it is such a wonderful surprise when it does.

As 2011 comes to close, I want to thank it for all the wonderful opportunities it brought into my life. I’m excited to see what 2012 has in store for me and my writing.

I make resolutions each year, but I’m never too good at keeping them. I did the best job to date this last year. In terms of writing resolutions, I want to write daily. I am going to start small with a time frame not a word count because that seems to be easier for me to tackle. I think I will start with 10-15 minutes and try to increase it a bit every month.

What about you. What do you hope to accomplish with your writing or art in 2012?

I’m a big fan of Julia Cameron and her Artist Way books. I realized a week ago that I have never finished The Vein of Gold. I remember starting it in my early twenties, but not getting very far. I think a journey into my creative heart is exactly what I need in 2012. I am looking forward to co-creating a life of creativity this coming year.

Happy New Year’s Eve! See you next year.

Sunday Morning

Good morning.

I am enjoying the extra hour of sleep and a nice cup of french press vanilla hazelnut coffee in my favorite Kermit mug this morning as I write.  I haven’t been great about posting on a schedule since I moved, but I am starting to feel more settled and I think all of that will fall back into place again.

This Kermit mug was a Christmas gift last year from my cousin and I love it more than anything. As most of my close friends who read this blog know, I am a Muppet fanatic. I have loved ALL things Muppet since I was an infant. My first Christmas ornaments were Muppet themed. Once, when I was a toddler the Muppet Show was preempted by a football game and I was so inconsolable, my dad called the network to see what could be done to right it.

If I had three wishes and could acquire any Muppet paraphernalia in the world…I would want Kermit’s coffee cup from the Muppet Show set and the beaded microphone headband that Jim wore when he was performing. I know, I will probably never have an opportunity to have either of these priceless items, so this Kermit cup is a nice substitute.

Jim Henson is more than my hero, he is my inspiration and my touchstone of what a creative and imaginative person can accomplish. I still remember where I was when I found out that he had passed away. It was three days before my thirteenth birthday and I was sitting in the car, waiting for my mom at the bank. She came back to the car to find me inconsolable again. I cried all the way home and couldn’t even tell her until we were back inside. I always thought that I would meet him and maybe work with him some day. I was devastated.

This year I am grateful for many things: my new job, a great apartment, the opportunity to teach awesome kids everyday, my health, my family and friends…I could go on. However, I am also very grateful for a new Muppet movie. I am starting to seriously geek out about it. Part of me thinks that I might be getting too excited, therefore lessening my chances of loving it because my expectations will be too high. But, I think that I love the Muppets with such intensity that I will more than likely love it anyway.

Also, Jason Segel wrote it and as I have come to discover this weekend – he may be a bigger Muppet fan than I am. Hard to imagine I know. He has such respect and admiration for the Muppets and Jim, I am pretty confident that he will do it justice. On another note, my mom is convinced that he is my soul mate because of our Muppet love connection. If you’re out there Jason, maybe you would enjoy a trip to Colorado soon…

I also have been busy trying to get geared up for another holiday season of selling my book, The Christmas Child. I have been working through some changes and edits from last year. This time last year I had a computer crash  and had to reformat the whole manuscript and barely got it printed before Christmas. This year, I couldn’t find anything but the PDF file and ended up reformatting once again. But a couple of days ago, I did find the elusive file from last year so…long story short – a lot of extra work for nothing.

I have a tendency to do that. Make a mountain out of a molehill, as they say. In my impatience, I sometimes jump prematurely and end up in the weeds. Oh well. At least I can send the file to the printer tomorrow. Now I have to focus on some promotion and try to get some more people to the book.

Every year I have sold more than the year before, so I can’t complain about that either but I would love to have some killer sales this year.

I am working on a book trailer and some fun videos that I will post links to soon.

Enjoy the extra time today to do something you love. I think I’ll enjoy a classic Muppet Movie and get some words on the page.